The Catholic Sun

At the end of the feast of All Saints, just before the sun set, Pope Francis celebrated an outdoor Mass at Rome's Verano cemetery and urged Christians to hang on to hope as they reflect on the promise that earthly life ends with eternal life in heaven.

Students at Our Lady of Mount Carmel only slightly dressed up today. Their motive wasn’t candy, rather the cash and hope they could raise for children with cancer — particularly a kindergartener at the school.

Arizona is home to more than half a million veterans who comprise roughly 11 percent of the state’s population. Deacon John Scott, who spent 35 years in the military and retired as a major general in 2003, is hoping many of them attend the Mass in their honor Nov. 3 at All Saints Parish in Mesa.

The Vatican has no evidence its calls were monitored by the U.S. National Security Agency and, even if they were, "we have no concerns about it," the Vatican spokesman said.

Trials and doubts are part of everyone's faith journey, "even mine," Pope Francis said, but Christians know they can get through the hard times with help from God, other Christians and those in heaven.

Amid the art, specialty retail and dining that defines downtown Scottsdale sits a distinctively Catholic presence that connects the area’s past to the present. The Old Adobe Mission, Scottsdale’s first parish, turned 80 this month.

EWTN has filed another lawsuit challenging the federal mandate requiring most employers to provide coverage of contraceptives, sterilizations and some abortion-inducing drugs.

Two Catholic school teachers earned top honors through the Arizona Council for American Private Education. Several others were named as finalists.

Friends and supporters of E3 Africa, an organization that helps students in Uganda obtain an education, listened in rapt attention at a breakfast Oct. 1 as Fr. Robert Aliunzi, AJ, told of the struggles of being orphaned at age 6.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted blessed and dedicated Blessed John Paul II Mausoleum Sept. 14 at Holy Redeemer Cemetery. The ceremony marked the opening of the recently completed mausoleum, an expansion that adds 460 new crypts to the cemetery.